1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of enterprise software and more specifically in the field of approval management software.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Businesses use systematic approval methods to control decisions made within their organizations. These methods can be multi-step processes requiring authorization by multiple parties and therefore requiring significant time. Approvals are required in almost every activity of a large business. For example, purchasing requires approval for the expenditure of funds, human resources requires approval for hiring, and engineering requires design approvals.
In addition to requiring significant time, prior art approval methods are plagued with other problems. For example, it can be difficult to track approvals as they move through an organization and approval processes must be rigid to assure that all proper approvals are obtained. Software systems designed to assist in approval processes typically require that each approval scheme be specifically programmed and are thus inflexible. When requirements or personnel change, these inflexible systems require that computer code be rewritten accordingly. Software generally designed for approval tracking is also typically poorly integrated with enterprise software designed to accomplish tasks that need approval. For example, many organizations use one set of software to place purchase orders and a separate set of software to generate approvals. The use of separate systems contributes to the time and effort expended on these tasks and increases the probability of errors or unauthorized activities.